Interviewer:
Pranam, Gurudev.
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
Pranam, Baba.
Interviewer:
Gurudev, today we are here with you. We have seen that you have many companions who have been with you from the very beginning. We promised our viewers that we would bring forward people who know you closely—how they came to you and how their lives have improved. So, I offer my respects to you. And I also offer my respects to you, Haradan-da.
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
This is Haradan Sengupta. Everyone at the temple knows him as Haradan-da. He is a very dear person here.
Interviewer:
Gurudev, before we speak with him, could you tell us a little bit about Haradan-da?
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
Well, there isn't much to say in words. He has a son and a daughter. His son suddenly fell ill and passed away. It was around that time that I met him. He had come to the temple about 15 days before his son passed. At that time, he didn't say anything to me, and I didn't say anything either. That was the start of our connection. After his son was gone, he became very close to me. He began to lean on me through his grief, and that grew into a deep friendship and love.
Interviewer:
Haradan-da, how did you first come into Gurudev's presence?
Haradan:
Actually, when I first came, Gurudev used to sit in that small temple across the road. We met there, but at that time, I didn't realize who or what he truly was. I only realized it much later. As Gurudev mentioned, it was my misfortune—had I realized it sooner, perhaps the great loss in my life could have been avoided. But that was my fate.
Haradan:
After that, we began to meet more often. Gurudev has a unique way—he doesn't reveal his true form to everyone upon the first meeting. I used to come with my wife; we were quite helpless then. He would ask, "Why have you come? What do you need?" Slowly, I felt him drawing me closer.
Haradan:
I remember seeing him sitting in his room smoking a black cigarette. I had never seen that kind of cigarette before. I used to hide and smoke my own cigarettes elsewhere. One day, out of the blue, he said, "Here, have a cigarette." I felt so embarrassed! But that was the beginning of a closer bond. I call him "Gurudev," but it's more of a friendship. I can tell him everything that's on my mind. In my eyes, I haven't seen God, but if God exists in human form, He is sitting right next to me.
Interviewer:
Haradan-da, your wife recently underwent an operation. You came here on the day she was admitted and kept asking Gurudev, "Will you be there in the operation theater? Will you be in the OT?" Why did you keep asking that?
Haradan:
It came from my total faith. I knew he would be there. I knew he would be the one doing what needed to be done. On July 11th, I admitted my wife to the nursing home and told Gurudev he must be in the OT. Today, August 10th, I've come back after a month. Gurudev told me, "What can I do? I saw Ma (the Goddess) go there. I told her to go and look after things."
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
You know, sometimes even doctors feel helpless. They send people to me saying, "Go get his blessings and bring a date from him; only then will we operate." These are big, renowned doctors in Kolkata. They tell the patients to get my blessings first. When there is a critical surgery, I tell Ma, "Ma, you go to the table. You hold the surgical scissors." I tell Ma that the doctors aren't the ones in charge—she is. And Ma listens. She goes to the operation table herself. I have experienced this many times. I am a "rogue specialist" (specialist in ailments); I don't need to say much about diseases. Whether through Homa (fire ritual) or other prayers, I make sure they are cured.
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
Look at this girl here; she has epilepsy. It was only discovered just before her marriage. She came to me asking to be saved. We are performing a Homa for her right now to free her from this disease.
Interviewer:
Haradan-da, you had this absolute faith that Gurudev and Ma would be there during your wife's operation. Where did that faith come from?
Haradan:
It stems from an earlier incident. My daughter had an operation once. I came to Gurudev and got a date from him. There had been many complications before that—the doctors couldn't operate, and we had to go back and forth. Finally, my daughter, who lives in Pune, came here. When she went into surgery, I came here to Gurudev. Later, people who were here told me that Gurudev was running around like a possessed man, shouting, "Ma, hold the scissors! Ma, do this! Ma, do that!" I didn't see it myself, but I heard it from others. When I called him later, he simply said, "Yes, I know."
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
People come from all over, even from Bangladesh. Once, a boy's operation was delayed because he caught COVID. He called me from Bangladesh, worried. By Ma's grace, the operation was successful. He called me later, saying he was fine. Many people call me before they enter the operation theater. I always tell them to call me right before they are taken in. I stay ready. If I sense anything wrong from here, I get very restless and keep praying to Ma to fix it.
Interviewer:
Haradan-da, it seems your life is now entirely in Gurudev's hands. You mentioned that if you had come 15 days earlier, your son might have been saved.
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
He did come! He was sitting right there in the temple. But we didn't know each other then, so he didn't speak.
Haradan:
Yes, today is actually my son's birthday.
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
And he has come to tell me that. He is like family now. He checks on my health and even scolds me sometimes!
Haradan:
Gurudev once told me, "The responsibility for your daughter and your wife is mine." I don't know why he said it, but I've surrendered everything to him.
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
When someone depends on me entirely and says, "You do it, I am not involved," my responsibility increases. I have to keep pleading with Ma. Ma is alive here. If you talk to her, she listens.
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
Recently, an M.Tech engineer came to me in the evening. His father was on a ventilator. I told him to go sit in Ma's room and talk to her. When he came out, he was crying. He said he saw Ma crying—he saw tears in the Goddess's eyes. I knew then that his father might not make it. His father passed away the next day. The boy came back to me for peace. He still comes here and cries for his father, and I comfort him.
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
Another time, a 15-year-old girl went into the temple and came out crying. She said, "Ma told me that so many people come here, but they all come to see the Guru. No one looks at Ma. Ma is very sad about this." I was stunned. How did that little girl feel that? It's true—many people bypass Ma and come straight to me. Ma gets a little upset about that.
Haradan:
It took me a long time to truly "reach" Gurudev. I would come, we would talk, have tea and cigarettes, and then I would leave. Slowly, the connection deepened. My wife is initiated (Dikshit) by him, though I am not. But I feel I don't need a formal initiation because we have such a deep soul connection.
Haradan:
After my son passed, Gurudev told me, "I will come to your house and eat."
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
I went there for "Atma Tripti" (satisfaction of the soul). I am a Brahmin, after all.
Interviewer:
So, viewers, you heard them. This temple and this bond are built on faith and devotion. If you have faith, you will find something.
Guru Shyama Khyapa:
Just believe in God. Yesterday, a gentleman with liver cancer came. He only believes in Tara Ma. When he found out I am a devotee of Tara Ma, he finally listened to me. He said, "In the name of Tara Ma, I will never take this off."
Interviewer:
We will continue to bring you stories of people who have found grace through Gurudev. Pranam, Gurudev.
Haradan:
It is my great fortune to sit beside Gurudev and say these things.
Interviewer:
We conclude here for today. Pranam.